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Learning and Teaching about Networks - in a NetworkContext

Jens Geersbro, M.Sc., MBALaurids Hedaa, Professor, Ph.D.

Centre for Applied Management Studies, CAMSCopenhagen Business SchoolDalgas Have 152000 FrederiksbergDenmarkTel.: +45 3815 3888E-mail: jens.geersbro@rocketmail.com

Competitive Paper

17th IMP Conference, Oslo, Norway

Abstract

This paper describes the experiences of the authors when teaching a master level course in

Business Market Management using and teaching a Network perspective based on Anderson and

Narus's textbook; Business Market Management. The way the course was set-up allowed the

students to learn about networks, drawing on external company representatives to provide a

network context for learning. While many courses on networks employ more traditional

pedagogical methods, this module was designed to use insights from Network Theories as an

integral educational vehicle. Hence the course involved lecturers from both academia and practice

as well as field studies in collaborative arrangements with selected organisations.

The approach was very well received by the students and practitioners. Many explicitly referred to

the advantages of combining theory integrating Network Concepts and Business Market

Management.

Introduction

The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard wrote: “If you really want to help somebody, first of all

you must find him where he is and start there. This is the secret of caring….” (Kierkegaard, 1849,

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1980trans.). The quote illustrates an interesting point about teaching; the fact that you must be

sensitive to the student’s background, knowledge and experiences to really help him or her.

Today’s modern pedagogical principles accept this and emphasise that to be effective education

must be based on the students’ own reflections and analysis. The human mind cannot be compared

to a tape recorder simply accepting, storing and utilising every bit of information that is given to it.

(Herskin, 1997). Simply reading a book or listening to someone lecture does not provide a student

with real, useful knowledge about a subject in an effective way. As educators we must aspire to

induce the mature students to learn and to venture on a quest for knowledge rather than simply

scanning the curriculum without much subsequent reflection.

In other words we should change the way we view the educational process away from the product

and the programmed, coded knowledge that we can write in books and on blackboards, towards a

customer oriented perspective, where the customer or the student is the focal point. We need to

focus more on the learning and perhaps less on the teaching.

However, just like an organisation wanting to become less product oriented and more customer

oriented faces huge challenges so does the educational system and the educators within it; the more

we want to take the student’s situation and experiences into account, the less control we have over

the process and where exactly it will take us. Another aspect is that some academics still seem to

view the use of pedagogical aids, such as visual aids, cases, examples and group work as less

academic and therefore less respectable than traditional lecturing. They avoid these aids as far as

possible and the lectures are in essence more like reading aloud.

Venturing into a more student participative way of teaching, involves handling much larger

uncertainties in terms of curriculum covered, issues discussed and the structure of the process itself.

We firmly believe that these drawbacks are more than offset by the advantages. The approach

provides very definite learning opportunities for both students and educators.

In the words of Søren Kierkegaard: “To venture is to loose one’s foothold for a moment. Not to

venture is to loose one’s life” (Kierkegaard, 1959, 1962ed.).

In education, one venture could be to abandon the more traditional approaches often suggested in

instructors’ manuals and instead venture into a field of transferring and developing knowledge in

action.

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What is Action Learning?

In 1949 Reg Revans started formulating the learning equation L=P+Q, where P is the programmed

knowledge and Q is the questioning and insight (Revans, 1998, p.4; Raelin, 2000). He does not

discard the traditional instruction and teaching of the P. His idea is that P, although necessary, is in

itself not sufficient even if one possesses a vast amount of it; there must also be the insightful

questions, Q, asked.

The traditional P prepares for the treatment of puzzles, or difficulties for which solutions are

thought to be known, even though such solutions can be hard to find. Action Learning, or the Q, on

the other hand deals with the resolution of problems about which no single course of action is to be

justified by any code of programmed knowledge. Different people although all skilled and

experienced might come up with very different sets of useful resolutions.

The Nature of Action Learning consists of five steps (Revans, 1998, pp.16-17)

Observation or survey: collecting and classifying reports of what seems to go on.

Theory or hypothesis: suggesting causal relationships between those happenings

Test or experiment: carrying out activities dependent on those causal relationships

Audit or review: asking if those activities go as was expected

Review or control: rejecting, changing or accepting the causal relationship

As Revans (1998) states this may also be taken as a model of influence: influence upon self,

influence upon companions, and influence upon third parties and the external world. This seems to

correspond well with the notion of relationships’ embeddedness in networks. (Axelsson & Easton,

1992)

Phases of Action Learning

The typical phases of an Action Learning programme can be described under four headings

(Revans, 1998, pp.33-43):

1. Diagnosisa. What are we (the firm I am now helping) really trying to do?b. What is stopping us from doing it?c. What can we do about it?

2. Six sequential phasesa. Analysisb. Developmentc. Procurement

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d. Construction or Assemblye. Applicationf. Review

3. Intermediate invigoration4. Therapeutic

Although the Business Market Management in Networks, or E64, course was not specifically set-upas an Action Learning programme ex ante we will describe our experiences ex post drawing onRevans’ programme phases. This means that we describe our own Action Learning using E64 as thecase and the four phases mentioned above as the guiding structure.

Because the E64 was not initially set-up as Revans’ Action Learning programme, the four phasesdoes not match exactly, however we find them useful in describing our experiences. As a result thesecond phase containing six sub-phases we collapse into two sub-phases only: Application andReview. The first four sub-phases are actually very much a part of our initial Diagnosis phase. In astrict Action Learning programme the Diagnosis phase and the subsequent Analysis, Development,Procurement and Construction or Assembly phases would have been more clearly distinguishable.Phases 3 and 4 in Revans’ model have been left out in this description because we view the E64course as being a part of or a milestone in a larger Action Learning process. We will touch brieflyon these phases in the conclusions and further work section.

1. Diagnosisa. What were our intentions with E64?b. Problems and difficultiesc. What did we decide to do about it?

2. Six sequential phasesa. Analysisb. Developmentc. Procurementd. Construction or Assemblye. Application, description of the E64 coursef. Review, learning from the E64 course

3. Intermediate invigoration4. Therapeutic

Diagnosis

The E64 course content and structure was set-up to address a number of issues and objectives. A

similar course that was given in the autumn of 1998 provided the authors with a number of

experiences and feedback that was applied to the E64 course. The very positive student evaluations

of the 1998 course also provided a good atmosphere and background for E64. Probably the resulting

self-confidence and prior experiences contributed positively as well. Even faced with personal

uncertainties and totally different course settings from what most of the students had previously

experienced, the lecturers and especially Professor Hedaa was able to be the stabilising factor

maintaining the overall aim of the course.

Conclusions, further work

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The issues and objectives that we specifically wanted to address were:

Networks, co-op with the business community, and closer link between academia

and practice.

At the Copenhagen Business School close, working relationships with the business community is

very high on the list. The university focuses on establishing closer links with companies to facilitate

both education and research. Increasingly the university establishes specific relationships in various

courses and in connection with master theses and research projects. The underlying assumption is

that closer relationships will benefit practice, the students and academia.

Closer relationships between practice and academia can be seen as a shortcut compared to a more

traditional way where academia do research and educate candidates. The candidates graduate and

they are then employed by practice (in companies and in organisations). After some re-socialising

and un-learning, the candidates are ready to apply what is left of their knowledge to practice.

Laurids Hedaa. CAMS, CBS, 2000

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Closing the Loop from research to practice

Academia

Education

Graduates

Practice

A

G

P

E

E 64

Consul-tants

Figure 1: Getting from academia to practice and vice versa

Our ambition was to use the E64 course to provide an opportunity structure that could help bridge

the gap between companies and students -between academia and practice.

An important aspect is that there are no real short cuts when it comes to the cognitive process. In

most cases we cannot simply skip analysis and interpretation. All too often we see practitioners

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jump directly from observation to action. Our ambition was to create an environment that would

allow the students to apply a more systematic approach even in situations and issues directly related

to practice.

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No short cuts - but where to stop?

PRACTICE

DESCRIPTIONPRESCRIPTION

EXPLANATION UNDERSTANDING

Observation

Analysis

Interpretation

Implementation

Decision

Figure 2: The process of gaining new insights

Teaching about networks in networks

Because networks can in themselves be viewed as a description of context, teaching about networks

in general terms is very difficult. Our experience is that networks need to be experienced first hand,

need to be lived, by the students to be fully understood. Only when the network theories and the

models have been related to events in a specific context will the implications of the network

paradigm become clear.

Our ambition with E64 was therefore to teach about network effects, opportunities, and constraints

in a network context. We wanted to provide the students with first hand experiences. And also help

them establish good relationships with practice before entering into the subsequent 4th semester's

master thesis.

Working with practical issues and problems add to the learning experience

According to Revans (1998) working with practical issues and problems add to the learning

experience in a way that is not possible using examples or even cases. Being put in the context of

the sponsor companies, having to answer specific company related questions, and having to deal

with networks in practice provide the students with an opportunity to explore the Q.

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Our ambition was to provide a course, which was based on the students applying the theories, the

concepts, and the models taught in class to a sponsoring company's context. Our idea was that this

would take place throughout the whole course not just during the writing of the final report.

Market management -not just marketing

With the massive changes within the field of marketing that has taken place within the past 30-40

years much of the formal education in the area has changed very little. Today marketing of a

company’s products and services is no longer just the marketing departments responsibility. The

customers are no longer as willing to buy the first product that comes along as they might have been

say 40 years ago when many products were scarce. As the requirements and challenges facing

marketers have changed so should our teaching about the field. (Poell et. al., 2000)

The need to invigorate the marketing courses is addressed by Narus (2001):

"As business marketing expands its scope and stature, scholars must recast andreinvigorate their course materials beyond the tired old, "4P’s plus industrial examples"format. Increasingly, business-marketing experts are redirecting and focusing theircourses around value and its provision. In the context of business markets, value is "theworth in monetary terms of the economic, technical, service, and social benefits acustomer firm receives in exchange for the price it pays for a market offering."Furthermore, today’s business marketer must learn not only to create value, but also toequitably share value with customer firms. These are the challenges that marketingscholars face when constructing a course in business marketing."

Our ambition was to provide the best and most comprehensive marketing course at CBS. We

wanted the course to address some of the most important issues facing companies in today's

competitive business-to-business markets.

Application, description of the E64 course

The Market Management course was set-up as a 48-hour graduate course. The structure was laid out

over 11 sessions each of which were 4 hours long (except from the second session which was a

double session).

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E64, 26. september 2000 2Jens Geersbro CAMS, CBS, 2000

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Business Market Processes

UnderstandingValue

DeliveringValue

MarketSensing

UnderstandingFirms as

Customers

CraftingMarket Strategy

ManagingMarket

Offerings

Business Channel

Management

New Offering

Realization

SustainingCustomer

Relationships

SustainingReseller

Partnerships

GainingCustomers

Guiding Principles

Working Relationships and Networks

Regard Value as Key Relational Content

Focus on Network Processes

Stress Doing Business in International Networks

Creating Value

Figure 3: Business Market Processes (adapted from Anderson & Narus, 1999)

Adapting Anderson and Narus’s (1999) structure and revising the guiding principles slightly, this

provided a session for each of the main topics in the book as well as an introductory session and a

session that established the network theory paradigm (Figure 3).

Students

More than 70 students applied for the E64 course and 30 were admitted. Their age was between 23

and 33. 9 of them were female and 21 were male students. Most of them had prior working

experience. The students came from 6 different master lines with the line of International Marketing

and Management (IMM) as the largest group by far with 14 participants.

Companies

Fifteen companies volunteered as sponsors. Most of the companies were enlisted through the

personal network of Professor Hedaa, but a few students found their own sponsors. The list of

companies includes small and large, new, and established companies, and companies across a wide

range of industries and technologies. A list of the companies and the focal issue can be found in

appendix 2.

Before the first session

Prior to the start of the course the students were sent a welcoming letter explaining to them that the

course was actually an opportunity for them to build up their network- and social capital. Also it

was pointed out that this could be seen as an opportunity to get a head start in the coming

semester’s master thesis work.

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Before the first session the students were asked to prepare a brief curriculum vitae and hand it in to

the course administration. The intention was to provide all of the students with a blue book on E64

participants. The aim was to facilitate the formation of dyads and groups of dyads in the first

session.

Unfortunately, however, it turned out that only a handful of the students actually completed this

pre-session assignment. Subsequent evaluation showed that this omission left many students to

choose "whoever sat closest to them" as their partner for the dyads.

The first session

"Look at the fish!" Professor Hedaa's voice filled the auditorium. It was 8.05 on the Tuesday

morning of the first session of E64. Most of the students and a few mentors had arrived and were

sitting talking quietly to each other. Suddenly all mumbling stopped and people listened. "Look at

the fish", Hedaa repeated. Then he continued by telling the story of a professor in zoology who

asked a young student to look at a fish. At first the student did not see anything but a dead fish, but

gradually, as he looked closer he was able to see the different colours of the fish, its fins, the

position and size of its eyes etcetera. Then the student started to draw the fish. And he realised that

by drawing the fish he was able to see it more clearly. In the end the student was quite absorbed by

his studies of the dead fish constantly gaining new information and insights as he looked at the fish.

One can easily imagine this student now a full professor himself asking his own students to "look at

the fish!"1

Quite possibly, a number of students that morning saw the E64 Business Market Management

course as just a dead fish. But as the sessions went by and they were exposed to the real world of

their mentor companies, many of them found out that there was a lot more here than just a dead

fish.

Dyad formation

As we mentioned, the students were asked to form dyads, but did not have the CVs of more than a

few of their fellow students to go on. As a result the dyads were created either based on prior

experiences and friendships among some of the students or based on "whom you sat closest to or

had talked to during intermission".

1 “Look at Your Fish” by Samuel H. Scudder -1874

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It is not uncommon for students to work in pairs on some of their assignments but only afterwards

did some of the students comment on the quality of the relationship and its effects on the end result:

the written mini seminar exam. Clearly a large portion of them underestimated the importance of

the initial dyad formation for the entire process.

A few students complained that the company contact "given to them" was difficult to work with and

reluctant to share information or access to customers etc.

Choosing sponsor

Also attending the first session were representatives from about half of the sponsor companies.

They introduced their respective companies. After the introductions, the students teamed up in

dyads and each dyad contacted one of the sponsoring companies in order to start a working

relationship.

This process in itself was a major lesson in establishing relationships that presumably did not dawn

on most of the students at the time. Many issues concerning uncertainty were apparent: Whom

should I team up with? What should I base my decision on? Which of the sponsoring companies are

interesting to us?

Just like on the children's playground someone is bound to be chosen last or not at all. In this case

we ended up with a few students and 2 sponsoring companies that had not been able to meet each

other to create the dyads and contacts between company and dyad. After a little persuasive dialog

with Professor Hedaa, the remaining students and companies where matched.

Hexad formation

After having formed the individual dyads the students were given a list of sponsors and a list of the

10 assignments (2 for each hexad) (please see appendix 4). The students then signed-up their dyads

and sponsor companies on flip-over charts. Subsequently there were 5 hexads, A through E,

consisting of three dyads and three companies each.

Assignments

Each session would start with 3 presentations from one of the hexads in turn. The presentations

provided an answer to a specific question related to the topic of the session and was prepared by the

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student dyads in their respective sponsor companies. A list of the assignments can be found in

appendix 4.

During the presentations the lecturers would ask questions, as would the other students. This often

resulted in debates, which engaged the participants from the sponsoring companies attending the

session. This allowed in-depth discussions and questions to be illuminated by a combination of

theory and practice and the student’s own analysis and reflections.

To further add to the input of real life practical experiences a guest speaker from some part of the

business community often complemented the sessions. These presentations and their input to

discussions greatly added to the variety and depth of discussions in class.

Usually the student presentations and subsequent discussions took up 1-1½ hours. One notable

exception came a day when the students responsible for the session’s presentations did not show.

Although it is not uncommon for students to miss lectures, especially at 8 a.m. on a cold and dark

autumn day, this was a strong learning point in itself: all the students realised that they depended on

each other. The students suddenly found themselves in a relationship (with fellow students) that had

expectations and norms. As a result the absent hexad had to publicly apologise for their not showing

up. After this incident no further absence was experienced.

“P” presentations from the lecturers

Next in the sessions came more traditional textbook lectures by the lecturers. These were in some

sessions supplemented by a guest speaker from the business community who were brought in to

illuminate a specific subject. These parts of the sessions were always sought to be highly interactive

seeking the student’s questions and comments as well as comments from the practitioners attending

the session.

The structure of the sessions followed Anderson and Narus’s (1999) textbook closely taking

approximately one chapter of the book for one session in class.

Next session’s assignment

The sessions would normally end with a short introduction to the next session’s topic and a short

presentation of the assignment research question for one of the hexads. This could include hints and

tips on how to seek the answer or how to get information in the sponsoring companies.

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Exam

The requirements, type of exam etc were relatively standard. The students were asked to hand in a

written report of a mini project containing maximum 5000 words followed by an oral defence. But

contrary to Danish tradition the oral defence was followed by a presentation of the best papers and a

presentation of a best paper award instigated by one of the sponsors.

End of term and final exam day

After the last session we had a small reception, sponsored by one of the companies, to celebrate.

This is something that is unique to the E64 course: no other course on CBS has anything like it. In

E64 this event is part of the learning experience for the students as it focuses on their relationships

with each other, with the sponsors, and with the faculty.

After the final examination there was a small ceremony. Following a short lecture from the sponsor

of the best paper award, the award was given to three assignments that all received top marks. And

again there was a small reception where the sponsors had been invited, the guest lecturers and the

faculty. This time some of the groups that had received low marks decided not to participate in the

ceremony.

Review, learning from the E64 course

After the conclusion of E64 we asked the students to complete a short survey. The survey covered

very basic questions such as what the students had expected from the course and what they had

gotten out of it in terms of concrete lessons learned, network awareness, contacts to practice, and a

head start in writing their theses. Although we did not do a formal analysis of their answers, the

results are reflected in our learning points as they are presented below.

Starting with a market day

Because many of the students had not prepared and handed in their CV before the first session the

creation of dyads and establishing of contact to sponsor did not function optimally. However the

situation did undoubtedly provide the students with some first hand knowledge about the

establishing of relationships and uncertainties when choosing a partner.

Adding to the confusions and frustrations was the fact that not all the sponsor companies were

present at the first session. This added to the student’s uncertainties about which company to

choose.

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To improve this aspect we have decided that it could be a good idea to present this to the students

and the sponsors as “market day”. We will not be able to remove all of the uncertainties and all of

the difficulties –nor do we believe that we should. But we can provide the students with a clearer

picture of what the purpose of the market is and what we expect them to find out.

Establishing relationships with the sponsor companies

Most of the sponsoring companies were chosen from our own network, but a few of the students

found their own sponsors. Apart from 2-3 companies the sponsors rarely participated in the class

sessions. As mentioned, despite promises, some of them did not even show on the first day of the

course to establish contacts with the dyads and to present their companies to the students.

Although this did not create major difficulties or problems during the course, the input from

practice during sessions was limited to the few company representatives that did participate. Some

of the dyads complained that they found it very difficult to get interviews with their sponsor. With

the relatively small number of students we cannot make statistically significant conclusions, but it

does seem like there is a link between the sponsor level of participation and the activity and quality

level of the respective dyads.

Thus we assume that involving sponsors more closely, will not only provide more varied input

during the sessions but also urge the students to take a more active interest in their sponsor’s

situation, challenges, and issues.

Work done on assignments

Generally the work put into preparing for the session’s presentations in the hexads improved

drastically after the first one to two sessions. With the exception of the hexad that did not show,

most of the students were well prepared. From the point of view of the other students’ listening to

the presentations it is less clear how much they learned from it. During most presentations the level

of student and sponsor participation was very high.

One of the aims of the presentations was that all students would get to know about all the

sponsoring companies while having detailed knowledge and understanding about their own

sponsor. In a survey after E64 one student commented that perhaps the presentations should have

some kind of fixed or standard format for the company background information. Clearly many of

the questions require that some background information must be presented before the solution or

answer.

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Student preparation for classroom sessions

During the first one or two sessions the students did not seem to be well prepared. As a result the

level of classroom participation was very low and the sessions more a one-way presentation than a

dialog. This changed quickly as the students saw that it was the clear intention of the lecturers that

they participated actively.

One could suspect that some of the students expected that a course in marketing could not be that

difficult and require that much preparation. Also the lecturers, which were both present during the

sessions, were quite informal facilitating discussions and dialog among the students and sponsors

rather than presenting facts from the textbook.

It seems reasonable to assume that the prevailing one-way style employed in most other courses at

CBS adds to students’ passiveness and non-reflectiveness.

Being clearer about the process and what is required during the course could improve this minor

issue.

Use of e-mail and IT systems

Throughout the whole course we used e-mail extensively to communicate with the students and the

sponsors. Also the students used e-mail when communicating with the participating companies and

within the hexads in preparation for in class presentations and assignments.

All students at CBS receive an e-mail account upon admission and we had a mailing list set up

consisting of the names of all the students attending E64. Unfortunately this mailing list was only

accessible from within the CBS mail system. This provided one of the first obstacles to a smooth

information distribution and sharing: many of the students have part time jobs along with their

studies. Very often their employer will provide them with an e-mail address as well and they will

want to use this address rather than the assigned CBS a-mail address. The result is that the students

do not check their CBS e-mail which consequently overflows with unread mail. Also these students

like the sponsors and guest lecturers cannot address the mailing list for E64 from the outside and

consequently the student secretary had to act as a central e-mail clearing house.

Although the use of e-mail can be a huge benefit in many cases, we found in this case that we need

better tools for facilitating communication and the sharing of information than simple e-mail

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provides. And since CBS Learning Lab is in the early phases of implementing a tool called

Sitescape we decided to take a look at what this can do.

Unlike many virtual education platforms, Sitescape is not a virtual classroom but a platform

originally developed for engineering departments and groups that need sophisticated sharing of

information like drawings, documents, specifications etc. One of Sitescapes advantages is that it is

completely browser based and very simple to use. This means that the system can be access from

anywhere on the Internet with a userid and a password. It will provide access to common files, chat

forum, discussion threads, group calendar and much more.

Very likely Sitescape will be a part of the next E64 course. However we realise that there are a least

a couple of issues that we need to tackle for it to be successful in this context: Firstly we need to

provide an introduction to the system for the E64 participants and their sponsors. Secondly we need

to make the system attractive to use for the students and for the sponsors as well. Much of the value

of such a platform stems from people actually using it. The more users, the more benefit and so on.

This is often referred to as positive network externalities. Even if the students can somehow be

coerced into using the system to communicate with the professors and lecturers, this will not

provide nearly the benefits that the system potentially can provide. We need to get the students to

use the system amongst themselves and in the communication with their sponsors otherwise. If we

cannot achieve this, all we have is a fancy and expensive distribution platform.

Result of the final exam

The final exam showed that the students could roughly be divided into two groups: one group had

clearly understood the network concepts and were able to apply them to practical market

management issues in the sponsor company. The other group had not “seen the light” and did not

fare well neither in the written reports nor in their oral defence.

Some of the dyads were clearly not in frequent or close contact with their sponsor company except

for when they had to prepare before a presentation. This seems to show the effects of learning about

networks in networks.

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Again being clearer about what is expected and explaining about past experiences could improve

this situation for coming students of E64. Another option could be to get a former student on E64 to

share his or her experiences of learning in networks with the new students.

Going on to the master thesis

One of our ambitions was that E64 could help the students prepare for their master thesis work. And

indeed it turned out that 6 students are doing their thesis based on the same sponsor and 9 have

chosen one of the E64 lecturers as their advisor.

Conclusion, further work

An integral part of Action Learning is double loop learning. Going back asking the question: “What

have we learned, and can we apply this to other areas”? Based on our experiences with E64 we have

planned a number of activities that all have a strong element of Action Learning in them.

One of our insights was that some of sponsors valued the content of E64 very much. They

specifically commented on the comprehensive and holistic approach to market management rather

than just marketing. This has led us to design a Collaborative Market Management, CMM course

for marketing, purchasing, logistics and other business professionals.

The CMM course is designed to be a 12-month programme where the participants work on issues

and projects within their own companies throughout. This programme will have a very strong

Action Learning perspective.

In an upcoming master class for our MBA Alumni we offer a 4½-day course on Relationship

Marketing that concludes in a ½ day Action Learning session enabling the participants to conduct

Action Learning in their own organisations in the area of Relationship Marketing.

Finally we will be offering the E64 course in a slightly more condensed version in the autumn of

2001.

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References

Anderson, James C. & Narus, James A. (1999). Business Market Management, Prentiss Hall, New

Jersey, 1999

Axelsson, Björn & Easton, Geoffrey (1992). Industrial Networks –A New View of Reality,

Routledge, London, 1992

Herskin, Bjarne (1997). Undervisningsteknik for universitetslærere. Samfundslitteratur,

København, 1997

Kierkegaard, Søren (1849, 1980trans.). Sygdommen til Døden. En christelig psychologisk Udvikling

til Opbyggelse og Opvækkelse. Af Anti-Climacus, C.A. Reitzel. København 1849. [VIII] + 136

pp. Translated: The Sickness unto Death, edited and translated by Howard V. Hong, Princeton

University Press, New Jersey, 1980

Kierkegaard, Søren (1859, 1962ed.). Synspunktet for min Forfatter-Virksomhed. En ligefrem

Meddelelse, Rapport til Historien af S Kierkegaard, C.A. Reitzel. København 1859. [IV] +

114 pp. New edition: Søren Kierkegaard, Samlede Værker, bind 18, Gyldendal, København,

1962

Narus, James A. (2001). http://cbpa.louisville.edu/mer/business.htm

Poell, Rob F., Chivers, Geoff E., Van der Krogt, Ferd J., Wildemeersch, Danny A. (2000). “

Learning Network-Theory: Organising the Dynamic Relationships Between Learning and

Work”, Management Learning, Vol.31(1):25-49

Revans, Reg. (1998). ABC of Action Learning, Lemos & Crane, London, 1998

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Appendix

Appendix 1: Student distribution

Master line # of participantsInternational Marketing & Management, IMM 14Økonomisk Markedsføring, EMF 6Strategy, Organisation & Management, SOL 5Management of Technology, MOT 2Design & Communication Management, DCM 2International Business, IBS 1

Appendix 2: Sponsoring companies

Category Company Line of business Type of issueSmall, new Converto E-procurement software New market

penetration/definitionTrade Doubler E-marketing Customer relationshipsMicro Planet Web-development New market penetrationGurre Gruppen HRM Consultancy Group Strategy, customer

portfolioEstablished Ruko Access control, Locks and

keysChannels

Berendsen Textile Service Garment services Technology, valueproposition

Carl Bro Engineering consultancy Billing ratesHans Just Wholesaler, spirits Customer profitabilityElwis Royal Gaskets for automobiles Distributor networkHP IT provider Sales, high availability

systemsIBM IT provider Sales, content

managementOthers Sanofi Synthelabo Pharmaceuticals Sales

Danish Chamber of Commerce Member Organisation Member defectionICT CRM systems vendor

Appendix 3: Course Schedule

Date Subject - Theme Readings Notes (responsible lecturer)September 12. Introduction Chapter 1 (LH)September 19. Understanding Business

Relationships and networksCompendium Double session (LH)

08.00-11.30 &13.00-16.30

September 26. Market Sensing: Generatingand using knowledge aboutthe marketplace

Chapter 2 (JG)+(LH)

October 3. Understanding Firms asCustomers

Chapter 3 (CN)+(LH)

October 10. Crafting Market Strategy Chapter 4 (JG)+(LH)October 24. Managing Market Offerings Chapter 5 (LH)October 31. New Offering Realisation Chapter 6 (LH)

19

November 7. Business ChannelManagement

Chapter 7 (CN)+(LH)

November 14. Gaining Customers Chapter 8 (JG)+(LH)Guest: Kjeld Morsbøl

November 21. Sustaining ResellerPartnerships; Group ProjectDiscussions

Chapter 9 (LH)

November 28. Sustaining CustomerRelationships; GroupResearch Projects

Chapter 10 (JG)+(LH)

Appendix 4: Group assignments

A - 19/9: Presentation of Relationship Analysis

B - 26/9: Describe and analyse methods for Market Segmentation

C - 3/10: Describe and analyse practical differences between First-time-purchase and Re-purchase -if any.

D - 10/10: Describe and discuss Actual Positioning and Position on the Business Market

E - 24/10: Describe and discuss methods for pricing in practise.

A -31/10: Describe and discuss examples of processes in 'New offering realization'

B - 07/11: Analyse and discuss existing 'Channel Business Processes and Functions'

C - 14/11: How do the companies attract and gain new customers in practise - describes and discuss

D - 21/11: Describe and analyse examples of collaboration with distributors.

E - 28/11: Describe and discuss Partnership in actual Customer Relationships